September Fruits

spartan-appleSeptember 11, 2013

I picked my first stanley plum two nights ago. Wow!
Sweet and still a bit firm. I only have a total of 17 on theyoung tree so I am watching them like a hawk. I will have
to drive out again tomorrow as they should be perfect to
pick by then.

The bartlett pear is firm but yellow-green so I know they can be picked any time. I few I cheated on and picked 10
days ago ripened up nicely in the fruit bowl and were very tasty.

I hope the pears hold one more week as trout fishing is on schedule for the weekend instead of stuffing canning
jars with pears.

Ginger gold apples are ripe at the nearby orchard. Even though I have too many apples for late september in my
own orchard, we just had to u-pick a few to support the
local orchardist. My wife cannot go without them. Bad
planning on my part to not include a few early season apples in my orchard design.

The wasps were awful this year! On labor day I had no
damage to my Canadice grapes. 4 days later they were
hitting them hard and also found many in the wasp traps
I put out. I caught a lot in the traps but finally decided it was a lost cause. I picked 90% of the grapes. Tasty but
I did not dare risking any more time on the vine to get more skin color. 3-6 berries in every bunch were already
sucked dry and the wasps were everywhere.

The bunches on my Canadice vine were just huge this year. Best year I ever had on this variety for size. In the
future I will only plant late ripening varieties as my wasp issue decreases greatly by the end of September.

I'm getting a lot of wasp damage..they are attacking the remaining pluots. The birds did a number on the Cortland apples. Squirrels are still around the yard.

I picked about 20lbs of Cortland..and the McIntosh are delicious. Good size on the apples. I really neglect my apples, so i'm surprised i get anything. Probably 50lbs of Seckel on the tree that need to be picked. I've ate a few...very good.

Still have Dapple Dandy and Flavor King. I've ate a few of each....they are done, just letting some hang.

Its been so hot and dry here... 25 days this summer have been 90F or better...avg is 13. We haven't had rain in weeks and I think the grass in a lot of areas is dead...like its not coming back.